Movement-led Electoral Campaigning: Momentum in the 2017 General Election

Abi Rhodes provides an activist’s perspective of the role played by Momentum, which evolved out of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign for the Labour leadership in the summer of 2015. Rhodes describes this as a movement-led campaign, contrasting with traditional political marketing approaches which focus on selling a political product. The focus is on encouraging and empowering activists to get out there and connect with other voters, and to use their own political knowledge to respond to people’s concerns. This approach linked well with Jeremy Corbyn’s own personality and style of campaigning. There was a strong digital component to this “people-powered political communication”, for example in the use of Facebook and Twitter to help people identify My Nearest Marginal, and in encouraging campaigners to personalise their online messages.